A $1 million display recreating what has been described as history's greatest archaeological find is now on show at the Luxor resort.
The King Tut's Tomb and Museum has opened at the Strip resort after 18 months of work by artisans in Egypt who prepared the exhibit to scale, exactly as it was found by archaeologists in 1922.The display recreates the long-lost tomb of Egypt's boy king, Tutankhamun, who began his reign in 1333 B.C. at the age of nine and died of unknown causes in 1323, at the age of 19. His tomb remained in good order for 3,300 years while virtually every other tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings was looted or destroyed.
The rooms in the replica tomb have the same proportions as the originals, and its treasures were reproduced with the same gold leaf, linens, pigments, tools and original methods used 33 centuries ago.
The museum houses hundreds of reproductions, including the king's sarcophagus and the jackal guardian statues often found in Egyptian tombs. Each item is positioned just as it was found, according to records maintained by archaeologist Howard Carter, who made the historic Egyptian find Nov. 1, 1922.
The museum and a 5-minute video are free to the public. A 20-minute guided tour of the tomb costs $2.